The Ben Chatham Xmas 2018 Special ‘Ben Chatham’s Christmas Present’

Part One

Ben and Julian lay in bed on Christmas morning, sipping champagne and opening their presents. Ben had received a gold watch from Julian while Ben had given Julian a sports car. Julian jumped up and gazed from the window of the apartment down into the street where the car was wrapped in exclusive tinsel from Harrods. Julian grinned with delight:
‘Ben it is absolutely stunning. Can we go for a drive later?’
Ben laughed:
‘Of course. I’ve booked us into an exclusive hotel on the Cornish coast. Finally I’ve managed to avoid spending Christmas with my tiresome parents and I intend for us to enjoy it. They seemed to accept my story that I was unable to get away due to being involved in a complex case.’
Julian grinned:
‘At this very moment all across the country the plebs are waking up and opening their dreary supermarket presents before preparing for their pathetic family dinners with screaming kids and unbearable geriatric relatives.’
Ben laughed:
‘But we are above all that Julian. Let us dine!’
Ben rang the bell next to his bed and his Italian servant Luigi appeared in the doorway with a silver tray. He served Ben and Julian with Colombian Blue Ridge coffee, quails’ eggs and caviar.
‘Is that all Mr Chatham?’
‘Yes Luigi. Now run along and prepare us a nice hot bath’.
As he spoke the door buzzer of the apartment rang.
‘Answer that first please Luigi’, Ben instructed.

A short time later Luigi returned:
‘You bath is ready Mr Chatham. There was no one at the door but they have left a large wooden crate. It says ‘For the attention of Ben Chatham’ on it. Very strange’.
Ben yawned and smiled:
‘A surprise Christmas present. It must be from my parents. Something boring no doubt. It can’t be worse than the awful jacket that Katie Ryan bought me. Women have no taste when it comes to men’s fashion’. He and Julian laughed. Later, after their bath, Ben and Julian came running downstairs, hugging each other:
‘More champagne Luigi, we are dangerously close to being sober on Christmas Day!’
Ben saw the large wooden crate:
‘Let’s open my surprise present. I suspect it’s a musical instrument. My father cannot seem to accept that I do not share his talent for practical musicality.’
Luigi handed Ben a screwdriver and Ben began to prize open the crate. He pulled out one of the sides and saw a large object covered in silver cloth. Lifting the cloth he saw a large, mechanical dog:
‘What is that strange contraption’, Julian asked , sipping his champagne. Ben laughed:
‘This Julian is a present from my old friend the Doctor. It’s a K9........’

to be continued.

Ok folks, here is part two of this festive adventure which compensated for the lack of a Doctor Who Christmas special:

Part 2

Ben smiled with refined pleasure as K9 lifted its head:
‘Affirmative Master’ it said.
Julian looked puzzled:
‘Ben I’m not getting this. Is this some piece of tat from one of your old uni friends?’
Ben grinned knowingly:
‘Despite appearances Julian, K9 is no piece of tat. He is a piece of advanced technology from a time travelling alien.’
Julian clapped his hands:
‘How wonderfully exclusive’.
Ben gave him a kiss:
‘Exactly. Now let’s get going to Cornwall. Luigi can drive us in your new sports car while we drink more champagne. We’ll take K9 with us’.

A short time later Ben & Julian were being driven at speed through the winter countryside, the sound of Philip Glass’ ‘Low Symphony’ coming from the sports’ car stereo. They were drinking champagne and feeding each other fresh strawberries. Ben tapped Luigi on the shoulder:
‘Come on drive faster. We need speed’.
‘Yes come on, don’t you Italians know how to drive like lightening?’ Julian added, laughing. Luigi shrugged and put his foot down on the accelerator.
Ben whispered to Julian:
‘He’s just annoyed because he wanted to go back to Italy and spend Christmas with his brother Luciano. I said he was staying here or getting sacked. I’m not doing without staff at Christmas, there is too much washing up generated’.

They arrived in Cornwall as the sun was setting. Driving through the grounds of the hotel they arrived outside an ornate Georgian building. The sound of the sea crashing onto rocks could be heard coming from behind the hotel. Ben jumped out of the car and opened the door for Julian:
‘Here we are. I trust it meets your approval young man’, he laughed.
Julian looked at the building:
‘Hmm. It will do I suppose’. Then he laughed and kissed Ben. They ran up to the entrance and to the reception. A middle aged woman with long hair dyed black and a low cut dress approached them:
‘Well hello. You must be Ben and Julian. Welcome to the Grange. I must say you are everything I imagined from the sound of your voices on the telephone. Such nice, smooth boys. I hope everything here will satisfy you’.
She stroked Ben’s face and he went red:
‘Ahem madam, we are here to check in. Double room for us and single room for my manservant Luigi.’
The woman grinned:
‘Oh there is no need to be so uptight. You are here to unwind. Here are your keys. I’ll be happy to give you the very best service later.....’

Ben and Julian went up to their room on the fourth floor while Luigi brought up the luggage and K9. Julian laughed:
‘Hey she was coming on to you, that old trout’. Ben frowned:
‘I have that effect on older women. They want to mother me then rip my clothes off. Can’t help themselves’.
‘I can see why’ Julian added, stroking Ben’s hair. As they entered the room, they were hit by a strange, mouldy smell. Ben was annoyed:
‘Oh God what the hell is this. Smells like someone has died in here’. He ran to the window and opened it wide. As he did so he saw that below the window on the gravel was a twisted corpse, it’s eyes wide open and mouth twisted .......

To be continued


Part 3

Ben and Julian rushed downstairs and ran out of the Grange and round the side. There lay the body of a young man, his face contorted in an expression of pure terror with his dead eyes wide open. Ben frowned:
‘This is very concerning. It is unlikely to have been a suicide as he is lying on his back. He appears also to have been a young man of some wealth. That jacket retails for around £4000 alone. I nearly bought one for you Julian’.
Julian examined the jacket:
‘It does look rather cool. Do you think anyone would notice if we whip
it off him, after all he won’t be needing it now’.
Ben frowned:
‘It May have got blood on it Julian. I’ll buy you one when we get back to Cambridge’.
As Ben spoke there was a piercing scream from within the Grange. They ran back inside to find the woman at reception lying across the desk with her throat freshly cut. Blood had shot out in a fountain all over the floor:
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Julian shouted. As he did so, Luigi came running downstairs in a panic:
‘Mr Chatham, there’s a man in the bathroom upstairs, he looks like he’s been stabbed’.
Ben turned to the others:
‘Right, I suggest that we get out of here and call the police. There seems to be a maniac on the loose in there’.
As Ben turned towards the car, he saw three men approaching, the first of whom was armed with a gun.
‘Ok Chatham, get walking back into the hotel. Now’.

Ben, Julian and Luigi were led back into the Grange and into the downstairs drawing room. The man with the gun went over to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a large glass of scotch. He grinned:
‘It was very fortunate for me that you booked into this hotel. You and your group of investigators have a degree of fame which will lend my little scheme some extra spice. Crime should always be exciting, don’t you think?’
Ben glared at him:
‘What the hell do you mean? Release us immediately. Why are you murdering the guests here? Are you a complete madman or is there some rational criminal purpose behind your actions?’
The man drank the scotch and scowled:
‘Oh I assure you that there is always method behind my actions. Upstairs, along with a whole group of murdered guests, lies the body of Sir Graham Nott, the owner of the Grange. A single man, no kids. Preferred the company of young men, an attribute that I’m sure you will understand Chatham. It was his idea to turn this house into a hotel. Always one with an eye for making money was Graham. He was worth millions.’
Ben stared at him in fury:
‘Just get to the point. Why are you doing this?’
‘Calm down Chatham. No need to get hysterical. Your sort lack the stiff upper lip in a crisis’.
‘You vulgar thug’, Julian shouted. The man laughed:
‘I am Martin Nott, Graham’s younger brother. With him dead, I will inherit his money and this house. What better way to disguise a murder than to hide it within a mass murder. The plan was to hire a couple of East European killers, Ivan and Dmitri here, bump off the guests and my brother and set it up to look like a drugs hit on one of the guests that got out of hand. But when you booked in it dawned on me that a narrative could be constructed where this was the assassination of Ben Chatham by persons unknown, probably aliens. I’m so looking forward to turning this back into a family home again. Now Chatham , prepare to die.’
Ben frowned:
‘Please do not refer to me as Chatham. Use of the last name only is common and uncouth. This is not an episode of Eastenders.’
‘Ok Ben Chatham, prepare to die’.
He raised the gun and pointed it at Ben’s head.........

.........to be continued.


Ok people, here’s the final part of this festive Ben Chatham adventure:

Part 4

Martin Nott pointed the gun at Ben’s head. Ben bravely raised his hand:
‘Not so fast Nott. Do you really want the drawing room of your precious Grange to be covered in our blood. Shoot us in the head and it will spurt out like a fountain.’
Nott was bemused:
‘If you think I care about a bit of gore and grue you misjudge me Chatham.’
Ben was not deterred:
‘I’m not suggesting that you are squeamish Nott, but you do have a knotty problem here. I know that however once blood soaks through the carpet onto the floorboards you’ll never get the stains out. There was a man in Leicester who bludgeoned his wife with a hammer and the blood splashed out all over the walls. Every subsequent resident of the house was plagued with bloodstained walls. Even repapering the walls made no difference, the stains still seeped back through’.
Nott frowned:
‘Ok Ivan , Dmitri, take these tossers outside and full stop them there. Here’s the gun’.

Nott handed the gun to Dmitri who gestured to Ben and the others to walk outside. Ben, Julian and Luigi were led round the side of the house and across the large garden, over a stile and on to a patch of waste ground. Dmitri lifted the gun.......

...... and handed it to Ben.
‘I’m sorry Mr Chatham. Me and Ivan do not want to kill you. We follow your adventures when we were back in Russia. If we had known that Nott was planning to kill you we would never have got involved in this’.
Ben took the gun and grinned.
‘Good man. I was unaware that Operation Delta is known of in Russia.’
‘Oh yes. We follow your adventures on internet. Me and Ivan dreamed of working for you but never thought it possible’.
Ben put his arm round Dmitri’s shoulders:
‘Oh I’m sure we can find you some work. There are manual tasks we need doing at our HQs in London and Cambridge and......’
Ben was cut short by a large explosion which ripped through the Grange. Even at a distance it blew Ben and the others to the ground.

Later Ben, Julian, Luigi, Katie Ryan and Kyle were enjoying Christmas dinner in the Blue Angel Jazz Cafe and discussing the case. Ben was explaining:
‘... so it seems that there was another plot to murder me and unlike Nott’s this one was planned long term. UNIT investigators found forensic evidence that the K9 was a fake and was in fact a bomb. The technology was alien in origin. Whatever was behind it clearly wanted to remove Operation Delta as a potential obstacle to invasion. Thankfully they merely blew up the murderer Nott and his Grange. The land has now been gifted to Operation Delta and I intend to rebuild the house as a research lab.’
Katie Ryan laughed:
‘Onwards and upwards Ben’.
As she spoke Dmitri and Ivan appeared, dressed as waiters, serving the wine and cheese afters. Julian grinned:
‘I’m pleased that those two also got part time jobs here as well as working for us. They scrub up well these Russians’.
Ben laughed:
‘Don’t they just. Anyway, before we move on to the Mermaid Wine Bar, I propose a toast to the new year ahead. Happy New Year team!’
They all raised their glasses:
‘Happy New Year Ben’ they all exclaimed as Julian stroked Ben’s hair.

The end.